The Hindu : Kerala / Thiruvananthapuram News : Eager for information on service matters

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Aug 11, 2006

Kerala

Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram

Eager for information on service matters

Complying with provisions of the Right to Information Act is keeping officials of the University of Kerala on their toes. From April this year, the university has received more than 30 queries under the Act.

Most of these queries have to do with service matters. While some have asked the university for the exact number of vacant posts of library assistant, others have wanted to know community-wise details of the list of potential candidates for the post drawn up by the university.

Yet other queries relate to academic matters. Some have asked whether certain courses have recognition or not. Others have gone one step further, asking for copies of remarks recorded by chairmen of the Boards of study or deans of faculty on granting (or not granting) recognition to courses.

The really enterprising folks are those who demand certificates from the university under the Act. Such people are informed that the certificates require payment of hundreds of rupees as fees and not just the Rs. 10 for knowing something under the Act. As the Act does not bar university employees from asking for information, a few have done so demanding copies of orders and so on. And then, there is the lecturer in a department who wanted to know details relating to purchases made in her own department during the past few years.

G. Mahadevan

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